Cartwright Announces Over $750,000 in HOME Grants to Two Schuylkill County Communities

U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright announced today that the PA Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) has awarded two Schuylkill County communities $763,390 in HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) grant funding.

HOME funds are awarded as formula grants to states and municipalities by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; the program’s flexibility allows communities and nonprofit organizations to execute a wide range of activities, such as building, buying and refurbishing low-income housing. It is the largest Federal block grant to state and local governments designated exclusively to creating affordable housing for low-income households.

Gilberton Borough has been awarded $335,000, which it will use to bolster its Housing Redevelopment Program. The program aims to remove health and safety hazards by covering construction costs, lead clearances and radon testing. The Borough will qualify its first three homeowners in January 2016 after and Environmental Review in October.

Rush Township has been awarded $482,390. Township officials estimate that the majority of homes in the township were built before 1987 and do not meet current health and safety codes. The Township hopes to rehabilitate 12-15 units in the Township; its goal is to create safe, code-compliant, owner-occupied housing.

“There is nothing more important than safe, affordable housing. The HOME Program is a special one because it gives states the ability to decide which communities are the most in need, and it gives these communities the flexibility they need to best serve their residents,” Rep. Cartwright said. “This is a competitive grant process, and I am pleased that Commonwealth has recognized the merit of these requests.”

It was designed to strengthen several important values of community development by allowing local governments to cater to their own housing needs, supporting affordable housing organizations and requiring participating jurisdictions to match 25 cents of every dollar in HOME funding so as to mobilize community resources toward affordable housing.